Friday, May 9, 2008

WHAT LIFE'S ALL ABOUT...

As i had mentioned in my earlier post about HORTON HEARS A WHO, my review about the movie has been published in the hindu's supplementary Nxg. And people should think i'm utterly delighted at this prospect, which i'm totally not!As per the paper's restrictions, it took me a whole of 3 hours to cut my page-long review short to a mere 300-words, and while doing so, i had to ensure i don't alter the meaning, the concepts i outlined, or the overall poeticity of the review (Yes it was poetic!). But what do i get, when i see it in form of the print media? Shock?yes it was shock, and not a pleasant one to the least. I was devastated to see my review short by an arm and a leg, and as i dig deeper, i see that they've eaten it's heart out too! I do not say i'm not happy to see my name in print for the first time, but anyone who had taken so much pains to construct such an elaborate review would agree with me, that whatever the reason maybe, it really is terrible for an artist to see his work spoilt: It can be metaphorically compared to the shock a mother would feel when she sees a doctor eating away her delivered baby's limbs, and slowly nudging towards its heart, saying simultaneously "Congratulations, madam". (Boy that was creepy enough wasn't it?)Anyway, if the excuse of lack of space was convincing enough, i wouldn't have gone on a rant about this, but to my horror, i saw that a companion review of mine (A rival actually!) had a full 293 words in it, with mere description of what she saw in its story (Yes it's a girl!). 293 words without a touch upon how emotional an experience the movie gave her, for the movie was targeted for your heart, since no one in their right minds would make a fantasy drama for any other purpose. And she happily discards the 71 mark rated movie (on a 100) as a waste of time, unless you're under 12. Then what's Roger Ebert? A kid in primary school???

I know a good artist doesn't touch upon others' work while he moulds his own, but when you've been kid upon, you don't sit flat on your back, saying, "Wow i'm atleast glad my review made it"! Read the review guys in Nxg, and compare it with what's been posted two posts previously in my blog: You'll be able to spot a mutation, and a nelson been transformed into the title of Ryan fleck's flick...